by J. Daniels
But Brian hadn’t put “love.” He’d put “WILD.”
“WILD” was his four letter word for “love.”
I slowly lifted my eyes.
“Filled that in two weeks ago,” Brian confessed, catching the tear that was falling down my cheek with his thumb. “Only puzzle in that book I can’t finish ’cause I wrote my answer and it ain’t the one they’re looking for, but it’s mine.”
I blinked up at him, trying to see through the emotions flooding my eyes.
“It is?” I whispered, pulling the book against my chest and holding it there.
He nodded, looking down at the book then back up at me.
“Never felt anything like this. Told you I didn’t care how crazy this was. Still don’t. I love you.”
“Brian,” I whispered.
He took my face between his hands.
“I love you, Syd,” he repeated, eyes serious. “Fuck it, all right? Fuck our crazy. I want it.”
A laugh bubbled in my throat.
“I love you, too,” I said. “You’re the best mistake I’ve ever made.”
Lazy smile and sweet eyes soft, Brian ran his thumb over my cheek and breathed easy.
“Feels good saying it.”
He had no idea.
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Really good. I’ve been whispering it in my head for weeks.”
Brian smiled bigger and caught another tear with his thumb.
“How many you want?”
I knew he was talking about kids. I tilted my head as Olivia giggled in the background and thought for all of two seconds.
“Two. A boy and a girl.” I pressed closer to ask, “You?”
“Whatever you want, babe.”
Whatever I want.
It didn’t matter to him either way. Brian was going to give it to me.
I had the best boy in the world.
He bent down, pressed his full lips against mine, and kissed me breathless.
It was not G-rated. There was a lot of tongue and gripping hands involved, mainly his since I wouldn’t let go of the book.
I had plans on getting it framed.
“Is the s’mores pizza ready yet?” Olivia called out impatiently from the living room. “What’s taking so long?”
“Gross,” Oliver muttered. “Don’t look. They’re doing it again.”
Olivia gasped.
“I wanna see,” she whispered excitedly.
I laughed inside our kiss.
Brian broke away laughing, too, then wrapped his arms around me and held tight, and even though I wasn’t holding him back, it felt like I was holding him tighter.
Turning my head and leaning, I peered around him to see the kids.
They were standing now. Olivia was staring at us with her fingers covering her mouth, looking so happy she could burst.
Oliver was shielding his eyes from the scene in front of him.
“It’s ready,” I proclaimed from the cloud I was floating around on. “We were just waiting for it to cool.”
Both kids came running into the room.
They told me about a hundred times how good that s’mores pizza was.
I liked hearing that, and I promised another pizza and movie night soon.
I also made good on my promise to Brian.
An hour later, after Jenna had picked up the kids, we were back at it on that couch, only this time I stayed on my knees.
I sucked him off like I wanted but I stopped when Brian got the impulse to take me from behind. I didn’t protest.
When you love someone, you compromise.
And boy, did I love him.
Chapter Fifteen
BRIAN
I was circling another ad in the classifieds on Tuesday when Jamie stepped inside Wax with a black duffle slung over his shoulder.
I looked at the time on the computer screen. It was just after eleven.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, watching him walk toward me. “Thought you had lessons this morning?”
He lifted the bag off his shoulder and heaved it up onto the counter.
“Had to move them to tomorrow. You wanted the money, right?”
Jamie unzipped the duffle and pulled on the flaps, showing me the contents in the bag; bundles of hundred-dollar bills, all wrapped and labeled.
“Holy shit,” I muttered, leaning over to see.
There was a lot of fucking money in that duffle.
“It’s all there. Had to hit up four different banks this morning to get it so I knew I’d be pushing the lesson times. Figured this was more important.” He zipped the bag and shoved it in front of me. “Also cleaned out my safe. Sucks if I get the urge to go Pacman Jones up in a strip club now. I’m out of ones.”
I placed my hand on the duffle.
“Probably for the best,” I told him. “That didn’t end well for him.”
“Only ’cause that dumbass wanted it back,” he shot back. “If I make it rain at The Golden Horse, those bitches can keep it. Once you commit to something like that, you need to follow through.”
Laughing under my breath, I slid the duffle off the counter and sat it underneath, tucking it behind a box of hats I still needed to tag with a price before putting out on a shelf.
“Thanks,” I said, straightening up and catching his eyes. “Means a lot, you doing this. Appreciate the cash, too. I didn’t want to have to write them a check.”
Jamie nodded as he leaned his elbows on the counter.
“Figured. Not gonna lie, felt cool carrying that bag around, like I was doing a drop or something,” he replied, grinning. “Smell of all that green got me hard.”
I stared at him, shaking my head.
“There’s something wrong with you,” I observed, eyes firm. “Seriously. You need help.”
He started laughing.
I wasn’t sure if Jamie was telling the truth or not, and I didn’t care enough to ask. In fact, the sooner we got onto another topic, the better.
I had something else I needed to talk to him about anyway.
“Thinking about moving out and getting a smaller place,” I shared. “Something that’ll work long term, room for kids when that happens.”
Jamie’s brows lifted.
“You being serious?” he asked.
I nodded with hands spread and braced on the counter.
“Makes sense to do it now,” I explained. “The way things are moving with Syd and with the pay cut I’m taking now that I’m not part owner, can’t afford that house every month. Want something I can easily swing that’ll work down the road, too. She wants kids. I wanna give them to her. Three bedrooms should be plenty.”
“Jesus,” he mumbled, shaking his head in disbelief and lifting his eyes from the counter. “Knew you two were serious, but shit, not gonna lie, I didn’t think you were talking about moving in together yet. Not sure this is normal, Dash.”
“Normal for us.” I shrugged. “Don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks.”
“I can see that,” he joked, then straightened to ask, “You telling me this so I can get my dad on it?”
Jamie’s father was in real estate. Most successful Realtor in North Carolina. He was pretty famous because of it. You couldn’t drive along the coast without seeing his face on one of those giant billboards off the highway.
It was how the McCade family made all their money before Jamie started competing and getting sponsored.
“Think he’d mind?” I asked.
“Fuck no. You kidding? Pretty sure Dad gets a boner every time he pulls up a listing.” Jamie tugged out his phone and started messing with it. “Need to know specifics. You want beach front? Big yard? Sex dungeon?”
“Doesn’t need to be beach front but keep it local. Good-size yard would be nice. Nothing less than three bedrooms and it needs to have a porch.”
Jamie lifted his eyes.
“You gonna take up knitting or something?” he asked dryly.
I cocked my head.
&
nbsp; He shot me a dumbfounded look.
“Why the fuck else would you need to have a porch? You’re not an eighty-year-old woman.”
“Syd used to eat popsicles with her mom on her porch growing up,” I said, defending my request. “Lost that when her brother died and her mom stopped being much of anything to her anymore. Know that’s something she wishes she still had and I’m gonna make sure she gets it.”
He stared at me as I spoke, listening as if I were speaking another language, then continued staring when I was done and not saying anything back. Just slowly started grinning and looking too fucking pleased for his own good.
Great.
He was going to give me shit.
“If it doesn’t have a porch, tell him not to bother showing it to me,” I stressed, hoping to move on.
“You’re fucking adorable, Dash.”
I closed my eyes.
He wasn’t ready to move on.
“Jesus Christ.” Jamie laughed. “Anything else for Sunshine and her golden pussy? She want a white picket fence and a golden retriever with a bow around his neck sitting at the door?”
“Boxer,” I corrected, eyes opening.
“Say again?”
I looked at the classifieds sitting on the counter, then lifted my gaze to Jamie, stepped back, and crossed my arms tight against my chest.
He wasn’t getting that shit.
“Nothing.” I shook my head. “Make sure it has a fucking porch,” I insisted. “Three bedrooms. Good-size yard. Sex dungeon is optional.”
“Optional. We’re so different,” he muttered quietly, then looked back down at his phone and started typing.
The front door chimed open.
I lifted my head and watched Syd step inside, bright smile on her face as she waved excitedly, wearing white cutoffs that were tiny as fuck and showing all kinds of leg, a peach-colored tank that stretched over her tits and flat stomach, and cowboy boots that in no fucking way possible were sexy unless they were attached to my girl, making them the sexiest goddamn pair of shoes I’d ever seen in my life.
On top of all that, her hair was down and looking just-rode-my-dick messy.
Fuck.
Fuck.
I pulled in breath through my nose and fought off punching a hole through my shorts.
“She doesn’t know,” I said quietly to Jamie before moving out from behind the counter and standing next to it to see her better.
“Got it,” he mumbled as he continued texting.
Jamie would keep the house shit between us. He had my back and knew this was important.
Syd would find out when I was ready.
“Wow. Look at this place,” she said with wonder in her voice as she moved farther into the shop, head tipped back and eyes scanning the room. “It’s awesome in here! So bright and beachy. If I knew anything about surfing, I would probably buy one of everything.” She turned her head to look at me all sweet. “No matter. I’m planning on buying one of everything anyway. I gotta support my boy.”
Her boy.
Christ.
I laughed and shook my head.
“Come here,” I ordered.
My hands were itching to touch her.
She took off running straight at me, dodging a rack of shirts, got within arms’ reach, then leapt into the air with a squeal, gripping on to my shoulders as I took her waist and lifted, my hands moving to her ass and holding there as her legs wrapped around my hips and linked at the ankles, squeezing tight.
“Hey, Trouble,” she whispered, running her nose along mine and then rubbing them together.
“Wild.” I kissed the corner of her mouth. “Thought you were stopping by after lunch?”
She pressed her chest out, held on to my neck, and leaned back to look at me.
“I was going to but I couldn’t stand it any longer. I’ve been twiddling my thumbs waiting to come see you and there’s only so much Food Network I can watch before I start eating everything in the house,” she admitted. “I had to get out of there while I could still fit into my shorts.”
I squeezed her ass.
“Like these shorts, babe.”
Her lips curved up.
“Why the hell were you watching Food Network?” I asked.
Shyness dipped her head.
“Because I was hoping to get a new recipe to try out tonight when I make you dinner.”
My brows lifted.
“You’re making me dinner?”
“Yep. At Tori’s house.”
“And it’s something you’ve never made before?”
“Yep.”
I slid my grip farther around her so she was pressing closer and I was holding tighter.
There was a chance she’d try and push away after I finished getting my point across. I was eliminating that chance.
She wasn’t going anywhere.
“You sure that’s a good idea?” I asked carefully. “Straying from the four things you know how to cook? I’m good with pizza again.”
Her face tightened in annoyance as she lifted her chin.
“I know how to read a recipe, Brian,” she returned.
“Pretty sure you don’t, babe.”
“Excuse me?”
“You can’t read a recipe. You told me the story of how you almost burned your house down trying to make cavatini,” I reminded her, thinking back to that night. “Said you set the oven temperature wrong, forgot to cook the noodles before you baked them, and after tasting it, realized you’d put in too much garlic, thinking one clove meant the entire head.”
Her eyes lowered to my neck.
“It wasn’t that serious. I pulled the dish out before it burnt up completely. Also, I was fine with that measuring mistake. I just so happen to like a lot of garlic.”
“You put in eleven cloves of garlic in a recipe that called for one. No one likes garlic that much.”
Not sure how it was possible but her face tightened more, gaze threatening as it squared off with mine again, and this time, her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment and her lips were curling against her teeth.
“Know you’re trying to look mad, Wild, but you just look cute as hell,” I informed her.
“God, you two are precious,” Jamie commented from where he was standing. “If I stick around and hear any more of this shit, I might get my period.”
Syd shot daggers at Jamie, then narrowed her eyes on me and ducked to get closer.
“That’s exactly the look I was going for, thank you very much,” she clipped. “And I’d appreciate it if you would see my look as intimidating and allow me to do this for you, because I really want to. It’s important to me.”
I heard the subtle change in her voice, the way her tongue lost that edge and her speech grew softer and withdrawn.
It wasn’t just important to her. It meant a whole fucking lot.
“You really wanna cook something for me you’ve never made?” I asked, dipping my head. “’Cause you don’t need to. I don’t mind cooking for us or eating the same four meals you know how to make for the next fifty years. Your pizza was damn good and I’m guessing I’m gonna like the other three things. Really don’t want you stressing over this.”
She sucked her bottom lip into her mouth.
“Wild,” I urged.
“I won’t stress. I promise.”
I lifted my shoulders. “Right,” I conceded. “Can’t fucking wait to try it then.”
She wiggled her hips excitedly with a little dance. Then her phone started ringing in her back pocket, and she reached back to grab it while telling me, “It’ll be perfect. You’ll see. What I got planned is gonna blow your mind, Brian. You’re never gonna want to get rid of me.”
I smiled, admitting, “Already there, babe.”
Her cheeks pinked up again, this time with the kind of embarrassment I liked seeing on her, and without looking at her phone, she hit a button and pressed it to her ear.
“Hello?” she answered, smiling at me, then losi
ng that smile and the pink in her cheeks after whoever she was speaking to responded. Her face hardened. “What are you doing calling me? I told you, I never wanted to speak to you again.”
My jaw clenched
“Babe,” I said, my voice carrying warning, because I knew who was calling Syd and I also knew I was a second away from taking that phone and laying into that motherfucker for calling my girl.
Syd ignored me and kept on at him.
“I’m happy now, Marcus. Happier than I ever was with you ’cause I have a boyfriend who is amazing, and if you’re calling me to try and get me back, you are wasting your time. I’m—”
She stopped laying into him, met my eyes and widened hers, then looked down at a spot on my shirt.
“Oh. Yeah, I forgot to do that,” she said with a softer voice. “I’ll take care of it next week.” She listened for a second, then added, “That’s fine. Thank you for letting me know. Okay. Bye.” She ended the call and slipped her phone away.
“What’s that piece of shit want?” I asked.
Syd looked at me. Her hand slipped around my neck again, joining her other one.
“He was just reminding me to change my address with the post office,” she said. “My mail is still going there.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” She sucked on her lip. “But I was ready to tell him all about how amazing you are if he was calling for other reasons, and I would’ve had a lot to say, meaning that phone call would’ve lasted hours. You’re that amazing. Also, I would’ve given examples and gone into detail.”
I smirked.
Syd’s cheeks pinked up again when she leaned closer and shyly added, “A lot of detail.”
I chuckled.
“Come here.” I shifted her ass in my hands, pulling her until her tits pushed up against my chest and her arms wrapped around my neck instead of her fingers, then I turned my head and pressed my mouth to her jaw and the smooth skin below.
“Seriously. Think I just became a woman,” Jamie said.
Syd’s growl vibrated against my lips.
“Do you have the authority to fire him?” she asked quietly. “He’s ruining the moment.”
I chuckled, shifting her back until her legs released and her feet dropped to the floor, then sliding my arm over her shoulder, I tucked her against my side as we moved together in front of the counter.
